PubForum Keynote Horan: Prepare for the Automation Fallout

Peter Horan, who is delivering the keynote at AdMonsters' Publisher Forum in Palm Springs this March, has a long, impressive resume, including stints as CEO of IAC Media and Advertising, About.com, AllBusiness.com and DevX. Now chiefly an investor, he serves on the boards of a wide variety media and advertising technology companies, including Halogen Media Group (as Executive Chairman), AdZerk, Mahalo among others. In other words, when he prognosticates, you best give him your ear.

On Digiday he warns that publishers and agencies simply aren't prepared for the coming 75%-80% automated display landscape (the remaining 20%-25%, he says, will be "deep integrations, social-media programs and highly customized marketing programs"). Both side are lacking the tech force to build and manage automated systems, with marketers clutching RFPs as if they were life preservers. He claims that many campaigns supposedly going through agency trading desks are actually "outsourced" to DSPs and ad networks.

"The logic of automation is inexorable," he writes. "Because all digital campaigns are fundamentally performance campaigns, and, at scale, automated systems work so much better. Automated systems deliver more results at a lower cost more quickly. Whoever masters these systems will have a huge competitive advantage within their segments. Their competitors will either adapt or get crushed."

Read the full article on Digiday, and also check out the summary of Horan's PubForum keynote presentation, "Looking for Leaders in Ad Tech."

Up to date on the latest happenings in the automated trading space? OPS Markets will bring digital advertising leaders and ops professionals together to discuss and develop best practices for operational excellence in the evolving automated landscape. Register today for OPS Markets, which will be held April 18, 2012, in New York.